


these little words (somehow they're changing us)

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Series: A Mighty Ocean or a Gentle Kiss [4]
Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: 100 chapters, F/M, Short Chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-09-29 18:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 100
Words: 18,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17208371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: One hundred glimpses into clumsy love.





	1. Ink

**Author's Note:**

> Like a tidal wave I'll make a mess  
> Or calm waters if that serves you best  
> I will love you with every single thing I have
> 
> -Sleeping at Last, Two

There had been a packet of pens that were nearly done for, but not quite, and it was Daisy’s idea to use them up before tossing them out.

The first idea for these pens was a poem, and Luigi tapped his pen against the paper as he tried to think of something. He heard scribbling that sounded more like drawing instead of writing and hid a laugh against his hand.

The scribbling sound made something click and he was able to write out a poem, and finished just before the pen finally ran out of ink.

“Let me see, let me see,” Daisy said when he said that it was done, and they swapped their paper.

Luigi read her poem, “Muddy muddy,” and then it stopped, in lieu of an attempt at a music box, with scraggly notes floating upward from the toy.

“The water goes, the fish afloat, ah, the river flows,” Daisy read. “What kind of river?”

“A fast one.”

When Luigi got his paper back there was a long line and an arrow that denoted, “River.”

The next assignment for the pens was drawing each other’s portraits. Luigi was only able to draw an eye before the pen ran out of ink. There was an agitated noise as Daisy put the cap back on her pen and tossed it into the empty pen pile.

There was only his moustache on the paper, and some attempt to fill it in; it got halfway there.

“That’s scary,” Daisy said when she saw her own portrait. “I see you.”

Luigi put the paper over his face and tilted it from left to right and Daisy let out a fake scream.

“There’s only two more,” Daisy said as she handed him a pen. “Let’s draw happiness.”

A clear image came to Luigi’s head, and he got to work. He drew it carefully, making each drop of ink count, and drew a porch with two people sitting on it; he tried to label them but stopped himself. He drew a line around the porch and little upside-down V’s to show that they were blades of grass.

The sky was shaded dark for night, and he tried to draw mist. It just came out looking like bunches of clouds, so he drew a line and arrow to label it, “mist.”

When he looked up he saw a crumpled piece of paper alongside Daisy’s work.

“It came out wrong,” she said when she saw him looking at the crumpled paper.

She showed him her paper, on which “happiness” was written.

“Is it really a drawing?”

“I drew a heart over the I,” Daisy replied.

She looked over his drawing. “So this is happiness?”

He nodded.

She smiled. “It’s nice. I’d want to be there.”


	2. Glass

Luigi held up the mirror, tilting his head and his reflection doing the same. It wasn’t a test to see if the mirror would work, though if his reflection stayed stationary the glass would’ve slipped from his hands.

He pushed up a hand at his face, and then pulled at his cheek. He pulled at the other cheek, and it did just the same. He lifted up his head and put it down, turning from side to side.

He told himself it was just to really check that everything was normal, as if it wouldn’t be normal outside of a dream, but some part of him recognized that it was a wondering if there was something that could be changed.

“You’re cute as you are,” Daisy’s voice said in his head and he quickly drew the mirror down and shook his head. He caught a glimpse of the redness in his cheeks as he put the mirror down and told himself it was because he had been prodding at them.


	3. Erratic

“So, then your kart is working fine?” Luigi asked. After a mock race to make sure the karts were working fine, Daisy’s had abruptly stopped; they decided to push it to the pit stop nearby the track.

“Just needed to check some things,” Daisy said. She patted the hood of the kart. “Nothing too bad, but you know. Just to be safe.”

Luigi thought of erratic turns and falling off the track. “That’s good, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’ll probably hurt my pride more by losing,” Daisy replied. She hid her grin by checking under the hood one last time.

“I’ll check mine, too.” He went out to his kart and started it up; it sputtered and hissed, and smoke billowed out from the hood.

“ _That’s_ new,” he said, astonished, after he forced it off.

“It’s contagious,” Daisy said.

They pushed the kart inside and worked together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I visit my family my cousins and I take time to play Mario Kart Wii together. Once my cousin was talking about doing a diary assignment when she was in grade school and as I was attempting to do the countdown timer speed trick I said, “Dear diary, I BURNED OUT, AND SO DID YOSHI!” Cue Luigi and Yoshi sputtering in their karts as everyone else sped off. That’s become one of the things my cousins and I reference whenever we play video games together.
> 
> An inspiration for this prompt.


	4. Born

Out in the little garden beside his home Luigi lined up the flowerpots and showed Daisy how to easily dig a hole in the soil.

“I let the flowers sit outside for a few days so they could get used to this new place,” he explained.

“Silly flowers, you were born in the ground,” Daisy said, as she patted one of the flowerpots.

“They must get confused,” Luigi said with a smile. “So, now, we loosen the flower…”

He placed a hand on top of one of the flowerpots, his fingers against the soil and tipped the pot upside down. He shook the pot a little and then the clumped-up soil was freed from the pot.

“It’s free,” Daisy said, and she leaned in closer to look at the bundle of dirt and roots.

“We make it so that the roots will grow outward,” Luigi said, and he carefully pulled the roots so that they were no longer wrapped around.

“There’s a base for the dirt,” he said, and he placed the flower there, and filled in the loose dirt. He patted down the soil around the flower. “Not too tight, just enough to support it.”

“Lot of work for them,” Daisy said. She began to dig, and pushed against the sides when she felt like it was big enough for the flower.

“It’s a little big,” Luigi said when she presented the new place for the flower, “but that’s okay, it’s not good if it’s too small.”

Daisy picked up a flowerpot and followed his previous motions. When she shook out the soil, it slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.

“It’s okay,” he said to her worried look, “We just need to pack enough soil for it.”

Daisy gingerly picked up the flower and its soil, and let it rest in the hole. She began to pack in the soil, and patted it down when it encompassed the flower.

“It looks happy,” Luigi said when she was done.

She grinned. “I’m glad they can be here.”


	5. Painting

Daisy was sitting on the bench, her arms enveloping a bouquet of sunflowers and Luigi peeked out from the canvas.

He nodded at the blankness before him and started off with a pencil outline. Daisy’s drawn head was a little big and the hands were strange appendages that gripped a cylinder of nothing. He drew in the sunflowers and the petals were weirdly droopy. The eraser on the end of the pencil was no good and he reassured himself that he could fix the petals in the painting stage.

Luigi found a thin enough brush and began painting over the pencil outline. The paint completely covered the sunflowers and if he tried to dab at it they became black circles. The hands completely melded together, but the face looked relatively unscathed.

He looked out from the canvas; Daisy had broken the pose for just a second to tuck in a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He took in the form again and breathed out as he looked at his creation. He started again by adding color.

The two blue painted eyes began to run down. Luigi quickly pushed the brush against them and they became two big circles. The sunflowers became a homogenous blob of yellow, and her painted hair was a shade too light. When he tried to darken it, the shade became too dark. He finally found the right balance but the paper was too wet in some patches.

The paint on the canvas eventually dried and he said, “It’s done.”

Daisy excitedly stood up and placed the bouquet on the bench. He brought the painting to her and let her take it.

Daisy studied her painted self, an unreadable expression on her face; Luigi’s shoulders slouched as he really looked at his painting.

“I’m sorry.”

Daisy seemed to find her thoughts; a smile appeared on her face and she carefully held the painting close, her arms crossed over the back. She let go and looked at it again before lifting her head upward.

She went to place the painting on the bench before she turned around and hugged him. He relaxed, and returned the embrace.


	6. Loud

“We don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to,” Daisy said. She must’ve noticed his shoulders hunch up.

He shook his head.

“Here’s something not scary about it,” Daisy said. She pointed to the screen. “The sound cuts out for the ghost’s scream when it interrupts the party, so I say, ‘Shut up, stupid!’”

“It must be an old ghost,” Luigi said.

“All it wants is peace and quiet,” Daisy replied. “Ah, don’t we all?”

For once Luigi had a smile on his face as he watched the film; true to her word, as the ghost made itself known and screamed there was no sound.

“Shut up, stupid!” Daisy shouted, the last word in a high-pitched tone.

Luigi was about to say something, when the ghost made all the doors and windows slam, and a loud, droning noise ensued until one of the characters ran out of the house. Luigi put a hand to his heart.

“You okay, Luigi?”

“I think that scared me more than the ghost…”


	7. Naked

It wasn’t any sooner than when Daisy settled down into the chair that Polterpup jumped up into her lap; Luigi was about to say something, maybe scold, but Daisy only let out a tiny squeak of surprise and then began petting the ghostly puppy, “Good pup, am I in your spot? I’m sorry, you can stay here.”

Her smile settled into something more neutral and her hand was placed upon her chest in a dramatic way.

“Luigi,” she said in a mock-scandalized tone, “this puppy is _naked_.”

He knelt down to join her in petting Polterpup and said, “So rude in so many ways.”

“Oh, he stole stuff from you, yeah?”

Luigi nodded, and laughed when Polterpup began enthusiastically licking his hand.

“Seriously, I wonder if clothes could fit him?” Daisy asked thoughtfully.

“Maybe they would go right through him,” Luigi said.

“Does he ever get cold?”

“I… I don’t know,” Luigi replied. Polterpup had taken to look pitiful for more pets, and Luigi obliged as he tried to remember where he’d seen Polterpup.

“I don’t think I saw him in the snowy mansion,” he said.

“Hmmm,” Daisy said as she ran her hand up and down Polterpup’s back. “He’s happy with you so that’s all we need to know.”


	8. Climb

There was a lone tree out on the hill, its branches adorned with leaves, and it was the right sort to lean against and look upward at the clouds that trailed across the sky.

Luigi thought then that this tree would be good for climbing; but then it was shoved away with excuses of not being small enough for its branches or fear of getting stuck.

And then almost immediately Luigi thought of Daisy’s dismissive remarks to such excuses, with a declaration to climb a mountain before crossing that bridge.

So he got up and began to climb the tree. Sometimes his feet scrambled for purchase and his hands protested against the roughness of the bark, but he managed to pull himself up to a branch. It held him well and he sat on the branch, smiling at this closer distance to the vast sky.

The smile faded when the thought, “I wish Daisy could be here,” crossed his mind.


	9. Soothe

There were muffled sobs and a million ways to soothe but none of them seemed right so Luigi was left with open arms and Daisy holding on so tight it almost hurt.

There were a million ways to soothe this and he needed one more, something that fit this grief that he could recall all too well. It was so horrible to be alone.

He breathed in deeply, a silent example for her calming, and returned her desperate embrace, but gentle. In time there was an exhale without any tears to follow and he found the right words.

“I’m here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that this fic was inspired by has this part at the end where the violins do the musical equivalent of the end of sobbing; that deep inhale and exhale where it’s kind of shudders but it feels so good to do because comfort was adequately shown and it finally feels like the tears will stop.


	10. Precious

Polterpup was looping around Luigi’s legs, and he was trying in vain to pet Polterpup. He thought that excitement sometimes clouded the fact that what was wanted was right there.

“Stay, stay,” he said, and Polterpup stopped, still brimming with rowdiness and Luigi began to lean down to pet Polterpup.

“You’re a good dog- _ow_!”

“What happened?” Daisy called.

“Doggy head-butted my nose.” He blinked away a few tears, and saw that Polterpup was looking up mournfully.

“It’s okay,” he said, as he knelt down and began petting Polterpup in earnest.

“It’s impossible to get mad at that,” Daisy said, as she watched from the doorway. “It’s just, ‘Awww, you precious little ruffian.’”

“His only crime is being so cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things that cause one hit point damage in RPGs: when you bend down to pet the puppy and he jumps up and head-butts you in the nose.


	11. Breeze

The flowers had adapted well to their new place, and Luigi had finished caring for them. In a few hours he’d check to make sure the plants were doing okay.

The flowerpots they’d arrived in were neatly stacked nearby, in case any other flowers would be transported here. He picked one up and thought of showing Daisy how to plant these flowers, and he smiled as he looked down at the empty flowerpot.

A light breeze broke him out of his thoughts and he looked at the flowers, slightly swaying.

“She’s gonna be really happy to see you guys again.”


	12. Tune

There was a song stuck in Luigi’s head, with nonsense lyrics, and a tune that was so familiar but he couldn’t place. Sometimes it kept him awake when attempting to sleep, trying to dig and figure out where he had heard the song.

He realized, with a jolt, when he woke up one morning where he had heard the song. It was something Daisy hummed shortly as she moved about.


	13. Broken

Luigi stumbled into a table as he tried to reach the top of the bookshelf with the duster, and he heard something break as the table fell over as well.

He winced and a breath went out in-between gritted teeth as he went to see what had broken.

It was a little wooden figurine. Luigi picked up the biggest piece and realized what it was.

There’d been a festival where he went with Daisy, and she had shown him this hollow figurine that she bought from a stand. It was a circle on a long cylinder body, the head decorated with minimal facial features. The body showed a floral design and she had eagerly pressed the wooden figurine into his hands.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but he wasn’t sure to whom the apology was given.

“I’ll repair you,” he said, directly to the figurine, and he gathered up the pieces to put somewhere safe before he continued with the cleaning.


	14. Echo

It started with a glance at a bouquet of flowers and, “It’d be nice to give those as a gift,” and then a feeling that he’d received flowers before.

It wasn’t wrapped up like this nor with a ribbon tied around the fancy paper. The stems were free and some of the flowers were missing petals and the flowers were only held together by a pair of hands.

It felt like a very long time ago and through the foggy memory Luigi thought this much younger version of him had been crying. It wasn’t because of who was giving him these flowers – though there could have been many, many reasons for why he was shedding tears – but there was a quiet echo of a voice.

It was something like, “You’re so quiet,” or “Why are you crying?” in a girl’s voice. There could’ve been any explanation to this shade of a memory. He remembered being left alone again and the tears beginning anew.

And then – it was, “Ta-dah, look, look!” or letting him look at them for a second before the girl began shoving them into his hands, “I got these for you so no more crying,” or, “Let’s go play,” or maybe it was all three – it was a realization then that he would be found.

It was a heavy lesson, tempered with the fact that most bad things seen through childish eyes were declared as the end of the world, but the good things brought about infinite happiness.


	15. Soft

Luigi was lying on the ground. He hadn’t fallen, at least not this time, but as it was grass was a good thing to fall on. It was good to lie on, too, and at least was more comfortable than hardwood floors. And it was healthier, maybe. Lying on hardwood floors earned backaches and colds.

It was a way for Luigi to pack up his thoughts or place them into metaphorical drawers and push them into their proper places. He’d imagine the most annoying ones as gnats that buzzed around and were expertly swatted with a clap of hands.

He heard a rustle and opened his eyes to see Daisy standing there. She knelt down and lay down close to his side. It was as easy as breathing for her.

“You’re a strange plant,” she said. “You blend in good.”

He put his arms in a circle above his head and tried to make his face as blank as a plant.

“So you’re a plant that can move, too.” She laughed.

He moved his arms back as she rested her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t much time before she righted herself up again, resting her chin on her hand and the other hand free. The free on reached out and began to run through his hair.

“Petals?”

“No, no,” Daisy replied. She moved her hand to the place in-between his overall straps, comforting and warm. “It’s soft.”

“Ah.”

“So, what were you doing, my dear plant?”

“Planting my thoughts.”

She nodded and settled down beside him again. Evidently her thoughts were too loud because she got up again, with a, “I’ll be right back,” and she got up to do something. Luigi clasped his hands together over his chest and closed his eyes.

That didn’t last long because Daisy came back with a big leaf and put it in-between his hands, a mock imitation of a rose. There was nothing left to do but sit up and hug her as she did no such effort to conceal her laughter.


	16. Clock

It was only a few more hours. Daisy would arrive soon and he’d volunteered to meet her at the train station.

Just a few more hours.

Luigi paced back and forth, wondering why the weeks leading up to this didn’t feel as bad as right now. That sounded like it was backwards.

He picked up a nearby clock and realized only twenty seconds had passed since he looked at the time. He placed the clock downward, a signal to not check again.

A book, then. Luigi went to pick one at random and sat down with it; he got to half through the page before he realized he didn’t remember anything beforehand.

“Too many characters,” he said to himself.

Then perhaps the bed sheets needed to be washed, before Luigi remembered that he’d just washed them the previous day.

“There has to be something to do.”

He tilted his head at an angle and could see a thin layer of dust on the table.

He went to go clean up anything in the house and confidently approached the downward clock.

Only an hour had passed.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”


	17. Hold

Luigi was careful with the broken pieces of the wooden figurine, as he went to repair it. The pieces were, thankfully, big enough that they didn’t require globs of glue. Then he thought even that wouldn’t be enough to repair something and it’d just become a huge mess.

He thought of Daisy presenting this figurine to him, and how she let it slip into his hands. He wouldn’t mind if she one day decided to have him hold her hand.


	18. Difficult

“Doggy, come on, don’t make this difficult,” Luigi said as Polterpup moved his paw out of the clippers. Even phantom claws got stuck on furniture or in the floor wood, and caused a great deal of discomfort for everybody involved.

“Stay still,” Daisy instructed Polterpup, and she moved her arm so that his head rested in the crook of her arm and his left paw was outstretched for clipping the nails. “Just one more.”

With a great deal of unnecessary squirming, and determination on part of those that were not ghostly, Polterpup’s claws were adequately trimmed.

When he was let go he sulkily walked away, with a look of betrayal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s how it is when trimming my kitties’ nails.
> 
> The older one? Piece of cake.
> 
> The younger one? The whole cake.


	19. Push

Sometimes the words came easily, a sort of rhythm of comfort. And then sometimes the words were hard to push out, interrupted by a cacophony of internal expectations.

He thought he was lucky, then, that she would help him back onto that rhythm when it seemed too hard to reach.


	20. New

Luigi picked up a new paint tube and stared at the blank setting before him. There were many different things to paint and he wondered which would be the best to focus on.

“Can I use that paint?” Daisy asked, pointing to the one in his hand. He gave it to her and she made a sizeable amount on her palette.

“I’m going to make something with just this color,” she said, as she idly ran her paintbrush over the blue paint. “What about you?”

“I have no idea.”

Daisy looked out at the empty table, and said, “I like how the sun is hitting the table.”

He got a good look at it and said, “I’ll try that, then.”

The table came out fine, but the sunlight was daunting. It was a light reference, a source, or something like that, and it could change the entire point of the painting.

He kept his eyes on the painted table before exhaling and pushing this fear behind him. The sunlight joined the painting but even with the lightest of strokes it ended up looking like cheese was falling from the window.

“I’m done,” Daisy said, and he went to look at her painting. The blue gave out near the top.

“I ran out of color,” Daisy said as he looked.

“I like it. It’s like ice and the ocean.”

Daisy smiled, and she looked at his painting. “A beam of light?”

“It looks like cheese,” he said.

“Oh, yours is better!”


	21. Serious

The list of things to do spun on and on in Luigi’s head. He thought to get the laundry done early so that it could catch the midday sun and dry quickly, and then to get something ready for dinner. Something savory would be nice so he would have to prepare it after starting on the laundry. Then while all that was done he would have to get started on breakfast, or a brunch if time said so, and then check to see what needed to be cleaned, did he have enough of-

“Are you okay?” Daisy asked, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see her face etched with concern.

“I was just thinking of the chores that need to be done,” Luigi said, a little dazed at being taken out of his train of thought.

“Oh, okay, you looked so serious.” Her face relaxed with his explanation and he found himself relaxing as well.


	22. Murmur

Sometimes there was a murmur, a creak or groan that made one wonder if it belonged to a ghost.

Sometimes there was a murmur, one’s name called out but no source for whoever called no matter where one looked.

Now, there was her murmur, something short and quiet against his ear, and he wondered if it was possible for a heart to stop and beat fast at the same time.


	23. Present

For a moment they had gotten separated from each other, and Luigi was staying in one place. It would be better this way, instead of walking around trying to find each other and missing each other in the process.

Something in the shop nearby caught his eye and he moved slowly, his gaze switching from his general surroundings to the small object that caught his eye.

It was barrette, with a small blue flower made of tiny stones attached on top. The sign, in curvy cursive, declared that it was an aster barrette.

Something went over Luigi’s heart, “I want to give this to Daisy,” and he began to move without knowing.

He shook his head, his heart then beating quicker in a feeling that he had to take this opportunity right then.

He quickly went inside and asked for the aster barrette, then asked to have it wrapped up as a present, yes, please.

A sense of relief went over him as he left, the package in his hands. It still took a while for Daisy to find him.


	24. Scared

“I remembered something weird,” Daisy said.

“Yeah?” Luigi offered candy, and she took a handful as she began her story.

“I think… Right, I was a kid, and I thought that if I wore wet socks I could grow up into a princess faster,” Daisy said.

“So literally your name?”

“That’s probably the best explanation,” Daisy said. “But, I remember… walking around and I almost stepped on something hot, a grate, I think, and I got yelled at.”

“For walking around in wet socks?” Luigi asked.

“That too, but if I walked on that grate I would’ve burned my feet.”

Luigi winced.

“What about you? Any weird memories?”

“I don’t – oh, oh, I know one,” Luigi said. “I was little and stuck somewhere.”

“Nightmare?”

“No, I remember, because I kept pinching myself to wake up,” Luigi said, “And all I could see in the dark were these bars. And when I looked through them I could see normal things.”

 “I don’t remember how I got out,” Luigi continued, “But I called for help, and big bro found me! So… little me thought that he could get me out, but he looked scared. And he _never_ got scared, so I remember crying really hard.”

“That is a terrifying story.”

“I have a good story from when I was a kid,” Luigi said. “It was… um… There were flowers…”

He shook his head. “I forgot.”

“Aw,” Daisy said. She smiled at him. “It’s not really gone, you just need to find what reminds you. I wanna know when you find it again.”


	25. Train

“You’ll be okay from here?”

“I’ll be okay,” Daisy said. They were standing on the platform, and the declaration that her train would arrive showed up on the screen nearby. “But, I wanna see what you got me.”

“It’s a surprise,” Luigi said, as he held up the small brown bag. The paper within rustled as he held it up.

“It’s already wrapped isn’t it?” Daisy asked.

“Yep, but you can’t see just yet.”

“All right.”

She suddenly wound herself in front of him and her arms went around him, and Luigi only had enough time to almost touch her back before she let go.

“You’re too quick for me,” he said, and she went back for one more so that he could do it properly.

“See you later.”

“See you later,” he said, and he turned to walk into the crowd to go down the stairs from the platform. He was jostled a little by the crowd and when he got free he placed his hands on his face and scrubbed.

“Not used to that,” he said behind his hands, “I should…”

Luigi looked at his bare hands and then the panic set in.

“Where is it?”

He ran back the way he came, keenly looking for the bag, and it was nowhere to be seen. He traveled back up the stairs and nearly ran into Daisy.

“Luigi,” she said, pushing the bag into his arms, “You forgot this!”

“What about your-“ He heard the whistle of the train as it shuttled out of the station.

“Your train,” Luigi said lamely, and the screen above the stairs stated that the next one wouldn’t arrive for another hour.

“Oh no,” Daisy said, though the worry came out flat. “Well, guess we’ll have to stay together until the next one comes.”

He nodded and they walked down the stairs together. She was the one to link their arms and he thought  again that she was much too quick for him.

“Maybe you’ll even have to go with me,” Daisy said, teasing mischief in her voice.

“I don’t mind,” Luigi said. “I…”

The words came out all jumbled and quick, “I wanted to stay with you longer,” and there wasn’t enough air for a second. He glanced to see her surprised face before it relaxed into a grin.

“I wanted that, too.”


	26. Tease

“Look at that face,” Daisy said, her voice all mirth and her finger touching his cheek.

His eyes looked upward and the sensation against his cheek disappeared.

“Luigi,” Daisy said, “You can tease me, too.”

The thought hadn’t crossed his mind, and it felt like pushing too hard on a box he wasn’t accustomed to; still, he could try at her request. He went for the first thought.

“Okay,” Luigi said, “Your name is the same… as a flower!”

She covered up her laugh and said, “Ah, you got me.”


	27. Beat

It was still an enigma, how a single word, or a string of words, or a certain look could make his heart beat fast, almost painful and too quick.

It was less an enigma of the reason for, but a mystery for how it kept the words from spilling out.


	28. Ignore

The washer had flooded in the morning and when Luigi had managed to salvage the soaked clothes to put on a wire outside he discovered there was a giant rip in a pajama top. The washer would not stop gurgling water, spilling over to soak the floor and his shoes.

It took half the day to make it stop and nearly the rest to clean up the swampy mess of water and laundry detergent. His hands stung by the end of cleaning it up.

Luigi ate leftovers for dinner, mostly in defeat, and soon found himself on the floor after cleaning the dishes.

Luigi thought about going into town the next day. Then about weighing the options of if it was worth it to hear some comment about being uncharismatic or the worst choice for being a hero. He pushed those thoughts down before they would consume him.

He thought of his dinner alone and drew his arms over himself and squeezed lightly. Maybe it would reach his brother, a phantom expression of love.

“Love, huh,” he said to no one when Daisy’s face appeared in his mind not long after. He wondered if this day would’ve been more bearable if she’d been in this house.

Being able to rescue the soapy clothes as he tried to fix that stupid, troublesome washer. She would try to sew up that giant rip in the pajama top and would probably end up with uneven stitches because she happily chattered to Luigi as he worked. Daisy would get him to try and then the pajama top would become a mess of thread and fabric.

She’d help him mop up the water, musing if they could just use the vacuum. In turn Luigi would find it in himself to make something for the both of them. Loneliness settled tightly in the area between his heart and lungs.

“Go see her,” he told the gnawing ache that was becoming too much to ignore. He pressed his hands to his tearing eyes. Sometimes that wasn’t possible.

He got up off the floor and shook his head. He exhaled hard and went to find a pen and paper.

He got to writing a letter, opening with warm pleasantries, recalling how long it had been since they’d seen each other, and then a small recount of how it was going. He wrote a joke he thought she’d like and underlined it, then thought it was too much, but decided to just keep on writing.

In the end, when Luigi closed up the envelope and began to write where to send it, the ache in his heart was soothed.


	29. Autumn

The autumn air was chilly and Daisy reached for his hand. In time her hand became as warm as his.

“This kind of weather,” she said, “makes me want to eat something hot.”

“Anything in particular?”

“Not like soup, something I can hold in my hands.”

“I could make you something,” Luigi offered.

“You always do, and I’m glad but,” Daisy replied, “I wanna make something for you one of these days.”

He gently squeezed her hand and she began to list off the possibilities of what she would make.


	30. Tea

“I’d rather drink the tea outside,” Daisy said as she looked over the matching tea cups. She picked one up and turned it around in her hand before setting it back down.

“That’d be nice.”

Luigi reached up into the cupboards and looked at the packages of tea. He picked one up and placed it back, his face a picture of indecisiveness.

“What kind of tea would you like?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Something lightly sweet,” Daisy said, “I tried a new one a few days ago and it tasted like medicine.”

“Something familiar,” he filled in, and she made a noise that meant she agreed.

There was a package of jasmine tea, a fragrant type with a sweet underlining. He took it and began to make the tea.


	31. Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a note, this is in reference to an older fic of mine, "Moon."

When Luigi looked back there was only one memory. There was sickness and then a realization, “I’m not where I’m supposed to be, I’m dead,” and then pleas, “No, no, please, wake up,” a voice that he clung tight too so that his brother’s voice wouldn’t be lost to the darkness of lost memory.

Just that memory, of someone that loved him and couldn’t bear this place anymore. Nothing else because this room was left alone, with only dust as company.

Until Daisy, because she arrived after so much time and could see him, and talk, and she lived here now.

(She thought this place was a _broom closet_ when she first visited, and it made him laugh like he hadn’t in so, so long.)

There were little pockets of things that he knew, like that salt was used to banish ghosts, and adding on to that knowledge that Daisy put away the salt, and the pepper, just in case.

She wanted to help, and even if it would take until moving on for his memories of being alive to return, he was content with the memories they made now.


	32. Good riddance

Their worries and burdens were spoken over rocks that rested near the lake, and traced over as if writing the words on the rocks.

There was something that he said that made her look, and a hard glare at the rock as if it were the person that caused that particular worry.

“Good riddance,” she shouted at the rock as it flew over the lake and sunk into the water.


	33. Reached

All too soon the next train arrived and Luigi boarded it with Daisy; it went by too quickly and he was to go back home.

Daisy reached out for a good-bye hug once again, no quick tricks involved, and he wanted to linger for just a little while more.

But the train home called, and he was left with a wave, and the way home with her last remaining warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you hang out with your friends and then have to have that walk or other transportation back home, alone. It’s so disproportionately lonely and it’s the worst.


	34. Shackles

This was old hat for Luigi. Sometimes Bowser employed strategy and remembered to capture Luigi, too.

Usually it wasn’t too bad. It was hot and his throat would dry out but he was free to wander around a cell. Look at the bubbly lava or count how many times a Hammer Bro jumped around.

But this, well, this was terrible. When he’d come to he was shackled to the wall, and was more than likely on an airship. His throat was parched. He’d tried to run up the wall as if pulling against the bonds on his wrists would break them.

When that didn’t work he concentrated on keeping his arms from going numb. It wasn’t helping.

There was a creak of the door, but the airship suddenly took a downward turn and when it righted itself Luigi slammed against the wall.

“Owwww.”

“Luigi?!”

“Daisy?” He asked in turn.

Daisy appeared in front of his cell door. “Oh, no, they got you too? Hold on…”

She pulled a few bobby pins from her hair. “Good thing Peach told me to always keep a few extras…”

Daisy got to work on the door, and after a while it clicked open. She got inside and surveyed the shackles.

“Okay, I’ll get you out in no time.”

She got close enough that her shoulder almost touched his collarbone and right then his throat was irritated enough to have the need to cough. He closed his mouth tight.

He willed a breath through his nose, smelled citrus, and when he exhaled the irritation got worse.

The shackle came loose and she got to work on the other one. She must’ve felt the tightness in his chest because she looked at him.

“Don’t worry, Luigi,” Daisy said warmly. “I’ll get you out.”

He could only nod and turn his head away if the irritation got worse.

At last the shackle broke open and he covered his mouth and finally was able to cough.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, when it finally passed. “Thank you.”

Relief crossed her face before she leaned in. “What happens now?”

“Well… Well, normally big bro has to break me out, so…”

Daisy nodded twice and took his hand, walking to the door.

“Let’s go give him an advantage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those things that NEVER happens at the right time. Oh, a coughing fit? The obvious time for this is during a dead quiet test.


	35. Heat

There were words that he didn’t quite catch, just snippets of his big brother’s voice, “I’m sorry, I have to go,” and, “Daisy will take care of you,” and then an affectionate tousle of his hair and then quiet.

The haze of sickness was irritating in more ways than one.


	36. Contagious

“Come on, now,” Daisy said through the haze, “Get up.”

There was a sudden coldness and he wanted to curl up, but she helped him sit up, and then pulled him up to his feet.

As they walked to wherever she was going, Luigi said in a craggy voice, “Contagious…”

“I’ll be fine, I don’t get sick easily.”

There were strange, grey diamonds that spotted against his vision and luckily Daisy settled him down in a chair and they vanished away.

“Water,” she said, and she draped a blanket over him before going to get the water.

She carefully placed the glass into his hands and Luigi lifted it to his mouth; the water soothed his throat.

“Okay, there’s a list,” Daisy said to herself, “Cook porridge – ah, there’s some instructions, okay.”

“I’m going to clean the bed sheets and then get you something to eat, okay?”

Luigi nodded, faintly, and drank the last of the water. He reached out to feel for a table first, and the placed the empty glass there. His breathing came in strange, shallow breaths.

He closed his eyes, and could hear Daisy running to and from, and then the rumble of the washer. Then he heard her run to the kitchen.

There were a few comments, and he couldn’t quite hear them. He fell into a light doze of sleep. The front door opened and closed a few times and he could begin to smell the porridge through the light sleep.

Daisy placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Here,” she said, and she passed a bowl into his hands. The porridge was a little burned in some places but it was filling, and she took the empty bowl from him. Another glass of water was in his hands. When that was done, she pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Feels better,” Daisy said. She went to pull him up, and it seemed that in a blink of an eye he was back in bed, but everything felt fresher.

“Thank you,” he said, and it was a relief that his voice sounded clearer.

“Of course.”


	37. Compromise

It was quick declaration, on that Daisy shouted as if it just leaped up into her mind, “I’m going to make something sweet!”

The thought of chocolate, batter, and other combinations danced around his head and he added, “I can help.”

“You can try it first!” she called back, a sort of unspoken compromise that he wasn’t aware had happened.

There were a few shouts from the kitchen, and Luigi deciphered what they were, even though they were low. He said idly, “Measuring is easier when the measuring cups are held over the container.”

There weren’t any complaints after that.


	38. Sweet

“It’s done!” Daisy called out as she presented the small baked sweet. It seemed to be an amalgamation of any baked good and it smelled extremely sweet.

Luigi reached for a piece and chewed; it held a good texture and crumbled easily but the taste took over and he began coughing.

“It’s sweet,” he said in a strained voice.

“Isn’t that good?” Daisy asked, but her voice took on an uncertain waver. She reached for a piece and her face scrunched up at the taste.

“I see what you mean,” she said when she could speak.

“How much sugar?”

“I put in… five cups,” she replied. “I thought it would taste better since it’s a sweet thing.”

Her face fell.

“Now you know,” he said. “Give it another try, I can help if you want.”

She thought it over and shook her head. “I’ll make you something good this time!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a massive sweet tooth (like, “used to put a spoonful of brown sugar on her strawberry ice cream,” sweet tooth) but even I have my limits.


	39. Nightmare

Luigi looked upward at the sky, and then downward. His legs were crossed and Daisy was resting her head in his lap. He kept his head moving so that he wouldn’t fall asleep too.

She made a strange noise, almost like a wordless plea, and he leaned over to see if she was okay. She suddenly sprung up and his teeth made a clacking noise as her head collided with his chin.

“Ow,” Daisy said as she rubbed the back of her head and then she realized what caused that pain. “Oh, no, Luigi, I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

He tried to say, “I’m fine,” but it came out rather jumbled.

 “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, and lifted up his arms; she hugged him tightly.

“Were you having a nightmare?” he asked when they drew apart.

She nodded her head and then something pensive crossed her face. “I don’t remember it.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I guess, but your chin…”

“I’m okay.”

He touched his chin to show that it was fine.

“I was nodding off a little,” Luigi said, “So that was a good wake-up call.”

“That’s a _terrible_ wake-up call.”

He laid back and patted the ground beside him; she went down as well, her head resting on his shoulder.

There was a song that was supposed to ward off nightmares but he couldn’t remember the lyrics. He hummed the tune, and he could feel her breathing become even. He hummed until he drifted off to sleep.


	40. Good-bye

Daisy was visiting that night, just Luigi and Daisy. She helped with the laundry even when folding the shirts proved tricky.

Dinner was easy enough even when the sauce was left on the stove for too long. He didn’t mind the burnt taste.

He got her a bed ready while she went through the nightly rituals and he did the same when she was done. Luigi accidentally knocked the hair dryer off the counter while he was brushing his teeth.

When he left the bathroom he saw that Daisy was sitting on the couch. Her face lit up when she saw him and she patted the spot beside her.

“Let’s talk!”

He went to the spot and she pulled Luigi down, gingerly, so that his head rested in her lap. He was more surprised than anything but, coupled with the fact that she began to run a hand through his hair, he didn’t mind this at all.

Daisy began to speak and it was all too comforting because he fell asleep on her third word.

-

Luigi awoke with a pillow under his head and a blanket covering him.

It was early morning, as the sun wasn’t up just yet, and he went to check the mail. He yawned as he drew out a thin letter but he instantly broke out of his sleepy state when he read the contents.

There was somebody that needed help with ghosts. He swallowed down his fear and went to go through the morning rituals. He left a breakfast place for Daisy with a note saying not to worry and that there was a key under the mat if she needed it.

Luigi paused at the foot of the stairs and figured that he would wake Daisy up if he went up the stairs to say good-bye.

“Good-bye,” Luigi said quietly and then he left.

He didn’t get too far down the road before he heard footfalls in the dirt and a, “Wait!”

He turned to see Daisy running to him. She was in pajamas and barefooted and said, “Luigi,” before hugging him.

He almost stumbled. He didn’t hug her back right away but when the surprise wore off he enveloped her and had a realization.

“Sorry for waking you up,”

“No, no,” Daisy said. “I wanted to see you one more time before I went home.”

Already he wanted to see her again, but he chased the thought away and decided to hold her closer.

After a while, though it was too soon for him, they drew away and Daisy smiled.

“See you later,” she said firmly.

“See you later.”

She waved as he headed onward. The road ahead seemed less daunting now.


	41. Shine

Luigi was returning home with bites and scratches. The request for recue turned out to be a trap but he’d managed to scrape through the fight.

He was rubbing at the wounds when they stung, and felt a shiver go down his back. He was close to home, and stopped in his tracks.

Daisy was walking on the other side of the road, a pail in her hand, and she waved with her free hand.

“Hey! Welcome home!”

She lifted up the pail and added, “I was coming to help you clean your house!”

He ran and hugged her. He would’ve liked to lift her up but the bites on his arms would’ve protested.

“Luigi? Did something happen?”

“Nothing more than usual. Actually,” he said, “I, um. Was hoping I could see you again.”

“Oh,” she said, drawing out the ‘o’ sound. Daisy drew away, grinning and tapped a finger against his cheek. “So you’d like this to happen every day?”

He didn’t say anything and she laughed. She rubbed her forehead against his and then he really couldn’t speak.

“I wou- your arms!”

“Oh, this. It’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t _look_ like nothing,” she said. “Where do you keep the bandages?”

“First aid kit under the sink-“

He didn’t get to finish because she ran in the direction of his home.

-

“Already a bruise around this one,” Daisy said. She wrapped a bandage around the wound. “Who did this, and did you get ‘em?”

“Ghost, and yeah, I did.”

“Good!” She tied a bandage around his hand. “I want to punch all of them but that one especially…”

Luigi thought of her taking them all out with a single punch and smiled.

Daisy tied off the last bandage and inspected her work.

“Okay, I’m going to go clean until this place shines!”

“I’ll help.”

“No, you’re the host and I’m the guest, so I’ll clean,” she said as she went to get her pail. She drew out a sponge from the pail.

“That’s…” He shook his head and went to put away the kit before grabbing another sponge.

He went to work on the floor and to her protest, “We can have that talk you wanted.”

Daisy immediately perked up and began asking questions about his adventure.

As Luigi scrubbed the floor, detailing the sunny road to heavy woods, he thought it was lucky they could have this time together.


	42. Enjoy

The timer went off again, and Luigi heard a shuffling in the kitchen as Daisy got the treat out of the oven. It was a while before she presented it to him, and there was a sheepish expression on her face.

“I tried it,” she explained, “Some flour escaped the mixing…”

He reached out to take a piece of the treat and she drew it back. Her face was scrunched up in hopeless defeat.

“I want to try it, really,” Luigi said.

Her eyes gazed downward and then she let him try the treat; it was a little softer in texture this time and he could taste the flour like little billows of clouds.

“You’re getting better, Daisy.”

“I’m gonna try again,” Daisy said, “This time you’ll really get to enjoy it!”


	43. Intent

It was something that Daisy suggested, and they were walking in the night.

“Are you cold?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, and she walked ahead, intent in her steps.

He blew warm air into his hands and went to catch up.


	44. Dance

Daisy led him to a fountain, where the water fell down in arches, and there was a thin lining of ice on top of the water resting in the basin. There were intricate stone designs of vines that curled up around the pedestal of the fountain.

There were stars above them, and the night sky was a backdrop to the scenery, and something clicked. She waited expectantly near the fountain, delight gracing her face when she thought that he realized what she meant.

Luigi bowed and held out his hand to her.

“May I have this dance?”

She replied with her curtsey, and reached out to grasp his hand. There was no tempo to follow, so she began, “One, two, three,” until they could move on their own.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked when there was a pause in the steps.

“Just, that, thank you for accepting to dance.”

It was something quick, a kiss against his cheek before she pulled back.

“Thank you for dancing with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off something that happened a long time ago, where I had two horrific nightmares in a row and woke up in a panic one night; I vehemently wondered, “Why can’t I dream of nice things for once?” and thankfully something like this crept into my dreams, leaving me in peaceful sleep.


	45. Stars

Afterwards they sat on the stone bench of the fountain, and she pointed out the constellations, old and made-up. The new ones were traced over into their edges and shapes.

The stars were bright, malleable in their numerous connections, and he thought it was good to be among them; but the pull of this place, of her, was worth more.


	46. Grace

The next time they met Luigi held onto a small gift, and showed it to her in a motion that was as much grace as he could summon. She had closed her eyes, and he quickly thought of what to say.

“Daisy,” he said, “Here, hold out your hands.”

He placed the gift into her hands and she opened her eyes.

“This,” she said, excitement growing in her voice. “I caught a little peek of this when you lost it.”

“Ah, the paper didn’t stop you.”

She shook her head and began to open it; the box revealed the aster barrette.

“Oh,” Daisy said, cradling the accessory in her hands, “I love it!”

“Would you like me to-“

“Yeah,” she replied, “Here, I’ll hold it up.”

She swept some of her hair behind her ear, her hand where she would like it; Luigi carefully clipped the barrette into place.

“You look really cute,” he said, stumbling slight over the words.

He thought that her happy expression was a matching cute.


	47. Dust

There was a box stored away, covered in dust, and Luigi brushed it off; he shivered at the thick layer of dust, and was glad that he was already cleaning.

There were pictures inside, and he reminded himself to not waste time going through them and reminiscing if he wanted to clean now. He still lightly flipped through the photos, and paused at one.

A photo had gotten ruined, half of the photographed erased by sun damage. The bottom half showed the clothing of two children, out in a field somewhere.

He wondered who was dressed in the overalls before noticing the multiple bandages on the child’s arms; at least his tripping had diminished somewhat. There were wildflowers clasped in his photo self’s hands.

Luigi didn’t recognize the child next to him, clothed in a simple dress, and he wondered. There was motion, she was reaching out to him, and it was frozen in this photograph.

In all accounts it was a photograph that should’ve been tossed out for the damage; but he put it back in its rightful place.


	48. Free

Afterwards, when everything was back to normal, Luigi asked, “How’d you learn to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Pick locks.”

Realization dawned on Daisy’s face and she made a noise to go along with the realization.

“I just practiced. You just move around the…” Daisy tapped her finger to her chin. “There’re little teeth in locks, or something like that, so you just listen and free the teeth from the latch.”

“It’d be good to know if that happens again,” Luigi said.

“You couldn’t move.”

“I could use my teeth.”

“I, well, maybe,” Daisy said. “Maybe if you were really determined to pick the lock.”

“Maybe,” Luigi replied. “Can you teach me how to do it?”

“Of course I’ll teach you.”


	49. Steady

Luigi waited for her decision. She kept a steady gaze on the back of her cards, lying flat on the table, and made a choice.

“Hit me.”

He drew out a card from the deck and placed it on the table. She bit her lip and nodded.

“Hit me.”

Another card joined her ensemble and she eyed the cards. She looked at the ones in front of him and then her own.

It was rather funny to see the swift changes in reaction. Daisy leaned back after she was presumably satisfied.

“Stand.”

“Okay, let’s see,” Luigi said.

She began flipping her cards over and made a face; nineteen.

Luigi began flipping over his own cards and with the last one still uncovered it added up to twenty. He kept the suspense, slowly flipping over the card.

A five greeted him.

“I won!” Daisy exclaimed.

Luigi nodded and pushed over her winnings, a small bag of candy. “Double or nothing?”

She grinned as she handed back her cards. “Double or nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two card games I know: Go Fish and blackjack. I learned the latter from, of all things, a Harvest Moon game.


	50. Letters

One morning Luigi went to get the mail and found a parcel jammed in the mailbox. He tried to pull out the parcel but it wouldn’t budge and his palms were becoming red due to the force. When the parcel was finally ripped free he almost fell to the ground.

Luigi looked at the sender’s name and his heart leapt with excitement. Daisy was the one that sent the parcel and he could see now that she decorated the parcel with big, smiling faces.

He wanted to tear open the top of the parcel and see what she had sent but stopped himself. This was something that had to be fully enjoyed, without the prospect of chores that had to be finished.

So Luigi went to put it on his bed and then got to work. When the work was done and he had dinner he hurried through washing the dishes and putting them away.

He ran to open up the parcel and pulled out the biggest stack of paper he’d ever seen. There was a rock at the bottom of the parcel, so round and smooth it was almost like a marble.

Luigi found the first page and began reading; Daisy had taken up three pages front and back about how excited she was to get his letter, and that she missed him a lot, too.

Daisy wrote that his joke was very funny and that she’d laughed so hard when she remembered it that she tripped while walking down the stairs. His worry evaporated when Daisy wrote that it was only two stairs and it was carpeted floor anyway.

She wrote that she had a joke for him. There was a circle of faces with little crowns on their heads and only two lines on either side of the heads to indicate hair. Luigi was confused until he read the explanation below, “It’s a Daisy chain!”

His groan turned into laughter halfway and he would have to figure out an even worse pun for her.

She wrote next that there was a perfume she found that smelled strange, like the flowers were mixed up carelessly, but she wanted to get his opinion. There was an envelope in-between the pages. He opened it and immediately sneezed – it was an overwhelming mixture of gardenias and roses.

Luigi shook his head and continued reading. He was halfway through the story of how she found this marble-like rock when he noticed the light streaming in. It was closer to dawn than night.

Luigi was only halfway done so he set it aside to go to bed. Daisy’s words played over in his head and he smiled as he drifted off to sleep.


	51. Camping

It was an optimal place for camping; the tent was in no danger of falling, and the weather was perfect for cooking. There was a decline a ways away, one that fell into an expansive field.

Luigi finished setting up the table for the curry dinner, and looked over. Daisy was watching the pot over the burner, the sauce bubbling inside the pot.

He called her over to the table.


	52. Spicy

“See, like this. Up, then down.”

Luigi held the carrot with his thumb and forefinger and made a decisive slice down the middle. Then he took half of the sliced carrot, and it was easier to cut it up into bits.

“Now you try,” he said, “But be careful.”

Daisy nodded and stared down her orange vegetable foe. She struggled, until the carrot split in half.

“I did it!”

Without waiting for an answer she began cutting the carrot into bits, and nodded when she was done.

“That part is so much easier.”

“You want to try peeling the potatoes?” Luigi asked.

“Not with this knife, right?”

“Something more like this,” he replied. He showed her the tool, and how to scrape off the skin of the potato.

“Can you eat that?” Daisy asked, pointing at the pile of potato skin.

“I… I don’t know.”

She reached over and took a sliver of potato skin before changing her mind and placing it back.

“We cut the potatoes the same way,” Luigi said, getting it ready as he talked, “But this might be easier than the carrots.”

In a few swift cuts the potatoes were cut into slices, and he let Daisy try; her own slices joined the fray.

“Now we let them simmer in the sauce…”

He placed them on the tray and brought it to the cooking pot, letting them fall inside. Daisy knelt down beside the pot and held out her hands.

“Nice and warm,” she said.

Luigi grinned before going to fetch the wooden spoon. He stirred the pot, and when it was ready he prepared two servings.

He passed one to her, and heard her cough.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, “A potato got a little burnt.”

He let a slice of carrot mix with the sauce on his place, and looked up to see her getting seconds.

“It’s _really_ good,” Daisy said as she took a little extra of sauce.

“I’m glad.”

A spicy warmth crawled along his tongue and down his throat and he coughed; at her worried look he managed a smile.

“Spicy sauce.”

“Is this good for the sinuses?” Daisy asked before she ate.

“Maybe.”

When the pot was cleaned out, he got up to grab two treats from the tent. He presented them to her.

“Ta-dah,” he said, before looking at them, one after the other. “Strawberry… or lemon?”

“What is it?”

“It’s like bread and cotton candy.”

Daisy reached out and took the lemon treat, and tore open the top of the packaging.

He opened his own, and twisted off a chunk of the light pink treat. It was mostly a strawberry flavored bread taste.

“It’s chewy,” Daisy said. She pulled off a piece of the treat and relished the taste.

He nodded and looked upward. There could be something fun they could do before it got dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I’m lucky enough to go to Japan, the program I go with goes to a mountain retreat place and we cook and sing around a bonfire in the evenings. It’s very cozy! And in writing this I remember that the majority of people are not left handed like me ^^;


	53. Hill

“I haven’t rolled down a hill since I was a kid,” Daisy said, after she finished the last bite of the treat.

“Me either.”

“Once, I completely flipped over and landed in a heap at the bottom,” she said. “Nothing went wrong, but I’d probably break my arm if that happened now.”

“How’d you flip over?”

“I tried to do a cartwheel at the same time.”

“That explains it.”

“What about you?” Daisy asked. “Any weird tumbles?”

“I could never fall right,” Luigi said. “I usually got stuck halfway.”

“Did you keep your arms close to you?”

“Wasn’t brave enough.”

Daisy hummed and looked over the hill. “Are you brave enough now?”

He thought it over, and nodded.

She lead him to the edge of the hill and demonstrated, before rolling down so quick she was a blur. She stopped facedown at the bottom and got up quickly, and up the hill just as fast.

“Now you try,” Daisy said.

He laid down and kept his arms close, and rolled; the earth and the sky melded into one and he landed at the bottom, looking out at the field.

Luigi got up and almost stumbled, before climbing back up. There was a sheepish look on him as he approached.

“Dizzy.”

“Can’t help that,” Daisy said, before she went to roll again.

It went on, and after a few more tries he got used to the world spinning.

He landed on his back, the air escaping him, and then something fell over his side, and Daisy was there looking dazed. Laughter burst out of him, unbidden, and Daisy matched it with a wobbly, dazed smile before she got her bearings.

She laughed against his chest, halfway between breathless and happily shaky, and he never noticed how beautiful the color of the sky was before, the clouds pale against the vast blue.

He thought then, wildly, that her very presence amplified the goodness around him.

Daisy pushed herself up and said, still somewhat out of breath, “I’m sorry, I landed on you.”

“I’m okay.”

She held out her hand and pulled him up, and began to run up the hill.

The feeling, something so raw, had begun to fade but the thoughts were left. It was too much to sort out right now, so he followed her back up on the hill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A song that I often listen to while writing, [Inspirational Piano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB4SvxKgpAU%22) perfectly encompasses happily rolling down a hill for me.


	54. Monster

When the night fell and they were inside the tent, Daisy was sitting upward on the thin bedding, something contemplative on her face.

“Don’t you usually tell scary stories while camping?” she asked.

“Not my style.”

“Come on, you’ve gotta like a few stories,” Daisy replied.

She arched her fingers like claws and made a smile so that only her top teeth were shown. “A monster that creeps through the dark…”

“Nope.” Luigi covered his ears for added effect.

“Then does your style tell regular stories?”

“I… think so.”

She lay back down, and listened.

“Once, I went camping,” Luigi started, his voice taking on a grave tone. “I was cooking, happily chopping up vegetables… And I was getting the first batch ready for the pot. When I got it ready I suddenly fell to the ground, and closed my eyes because it hurt so bad. Then, when I opened my eyes, I saw something terrible…”

And then, a pause for dramatic effect, “I had dropped the potatoes on the ground!”

“That sounds like something you would do.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m sure it was fine without it. Everything you make is the best.”

He stumbled slightly on his thank you, and then, “I can think up a scary story for you.”

When he was halfway through describing the creak of the floorboards he noticed that Daisy had drifted off.

The wind went by stronger and something cold ran down his back before he calmed himself down. He sat up and looked around, before looking at the tent opening.

“If there are monsters out, out there,” Luigi said, “I’ll fight you, so don’t even think, think of hurting her, okay?”

There was no response so he gave the tent another hard, determined look and fell back into sleep.


	55. Pause

In the morning the camp was packed up and cleaned just as they found it, and it was time to go.

“I wouldn’t mind staying a little longer,” Daisy said as they walked down the road.

She continued on without any pause, “But as it was. It’s really weird that no moment is the same as the one after it.”

Luigi shifted the weight of the folding table he held. “Then it’s good things, just a different time, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind having different, good memories of you, then.”


	56. Novel

The letters were beginning to stack up and Luigi was thinking of a way to keep them safe. He began to sort them out by dates, and made a bunch of neat piles, all of them varying in height.

The majority of the letters were pretty tall and he thought that Daisy could turn them into a good sized novel.


	57. Color

The flowers that Daisy had planted grew well in their ground and petals were vibrant in their color. There was happiness in tending for them but something forlorn crossed his mind.

So Luigi got up to fetch paper and writing utensils from the house and began to draw the flowers, using all the colors available. He hoped it would be a good enough replacement before she saw them for herself.


	58. Dream

When he awoke from the dream he shook his head hard, and breathed hard to shake off the remnants of sleep. Luigi blinked, and his face screwed up in confusion at the memory of the dream.

It was too strange to say outright, so he tried to articulate what it was in a letter to Daisy. Now he read over what she wrote back.

“I don’t know what it means that you dreamed your heart was replaced with a clock, but it’s kinda funny, right? It turns out you were a grandfather clock all along. So then, you know time wherever you are, but I guess that already exists… Anyway, I’ll help you out and figure out what it means!”


	59. Destiny

The book was dry and lacking, and Luigi agonized over every page. He would go to the back to see how many pages were left, and there was the dismal, large number that loomed over him.

There was only one interesting concept, and it was halfway through the book, so he closed it with defeat.

“How’s your book?” he asked Daisy.

“I like it, but the diagram’s texts are really tiny.” She turned it to him to show, and he had to squint to read.

“But it’s interesting, right?”

“Yep.” She took it back and he thought of his book.

“What do you,” he asked, he rubbed the back of his neck, “What do you think about destiny?”

“Don’t like it.”

“How come?”

“There’d be half that says I can do something and can’t do something,” she said, “With a lot of things! Too many things, so I don’t like it.”

She punctuated her words by tapping her forefinger against the hardcover of her book. “So if destiny said that I should have never met you, or something like that, I’d have to go fight it.”

“Fight it, huh? What does it look like?”

“Probably blue clouds.”

He nodded, and watched her return to her book. He took a deep breath.

“Daisy, I, too, I would-“

“Don’t worry. I know.”


	60. I know

The latest letter from Daisy was written in a new style of handwriting before she gave up halfway and wrote normally. He hoped her hand didn’t cramp up when she tried writing in a new fancy, curling script.

She had asked about the approaching season, “I know that something is blooming right now! Is it something on trees? Well, never mind…”

The next page made a slight red appear on Luigi’s face.

“I bet you’re cuter than the last time I saw you. Here’s what I think you look like now, and there’s a secret code!”

There was a drawing of him down below, “Daisy’s Secret Code!” and he could see the multiple grooves where she erased and tried again. There was a littering of one-four-three around his drawing self.

Tried as he might he couldn’t figure out this code.


	61. Transparent

Sometimes he’d try to hide his face, feeling the warmth growing against his hands, but it was to no avail. She could see it, he knew it and felt it deeply, and everything was as transparent as a shiny window.


	62. Fingertips

It was a very light brushing of her fingertips against the back of his neck, and then something heavier. Her hand rested against his neck and it was like a sheet of ice dropped on him. He yelped.

“Daisy, why are your hands so cold?” Luigi asked. He went to rub warmth, or rather life, into her hands.

“I dunno,” Daisy replied. “You’re the best at warming them up, though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I meet a girl who has a hobby that involves her hands (animating, drawing, painting, writing, ect.) they are always sub-zero temperature cold. As for myself, most of the time my hands are freezing. I don’t know why there’s a connection between artistic girls and freezing cold hands…


	63. Waiting

“Waiting,” Daisy said, drawing out the vowels, “is the worst.”

“We could play a game.”

“You choose, then.”

Luigi hummed, looking around, before deciding on something.

“You say a word and then make another word with the last letter.”

“All right.”

Luigi started it off, “Sun.”

“Noon.”

“Next.”

“Tomato,” Daisy said after some thought.

“Original.”

“Luigi.”

“Ink.”

“Knock.”

“Know.”

“Wow.”

“Worn,” Luigi replied.

“Noon- wait.”

“You already said that,” Luigi said. “Best two out of three?”

“I’ll win this time!”


	64. Zeal

Daisy tossed and turned beside him and he imaged the field as a giant bed, with outstretching green sheets and the ceiling painted like the sky above them.

“I wish I was more like you,” she said, frustration packed in tightly with her words, and some deep pang went through his heart.

“Why?” and then, to add softness to the question, “In what way?”

“You always look so peaceful doing that thing, organizing your thoughts, you said,” Daisy said, “Every time I do it, it feels like… just, I need to go do something!”

“But I want your zeal,” he said, “Sometimes having all those thoughts lined up feels like you’re gonna sink and then get swept up by a current.”

“See, like _that_ ,” Daisy replied, “I can’t do that, Luigi. I can’t just…”

She fell back with an annoyed huff, and covered her face with her hands.

“It’s like,” Luigi said after a moment of silence, “all those thoughts are going around but you can’t say them.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll take a page from your book, then,” and he leaned over to gather her into his arms; she pressed her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

“Is it better?” and then there was a nod against him.

It was for a long while before she pulled away, and then her eyes looked up at the sky.

“Looks like it’s going to-“

There was rumbling and rain cascaded down. Daisy shook with laughter, and managed in-between, “You brought the rain, talking about currents,” and he tried to keep her dry with his cap, to no avail.


	65. Revenge

Luigi maneuvered carefully among the shade of the tree, an armful of water balloons and one in his hand. He stood on tiptoe and looked around the trunk of the tree, on high alert.

Cold water cascaded down and he sputtered, before hearing a bucket fall on the grass, and he looked up to see Daisy hanging onto a branch in the tree.

“I gotcha.”

She slipped upside down, and gripped the branch hard. Luigi let the water balloons fall at his feet and stood underneath her.

“Let go, I got you.”

Almost immediately she fell from the tree and he reached out to grab her; still they fell in a heap at the bottom, but uninjured.

Daisy was getting her breath back and Luigi reached over to the pile and grabbed a water balloon; he let her see it before carefully pressing it on top of her head, so that it burst on impact.

“Ahhhh.” She ran her fingers through her wet hair, shaking it out.

“Revenge,” he said.


	66. Summer

With no time at all, under the summer sun, they had become bpne dry, and Daisy drew her hand across her forehead.

“I’m ready for another round,” she said, “I can feel my blood boiling…”

“No pails,” Luigi said.

“Okay, no pails this time,” Daisy said, “But I’m totally gonna get you with a giant water balloon.”

“Not if I make one first,” and he took off for the water pump. She followed and impatiently hopped in the muddy puddles around the water pump as he filled up his balloons. When she was done, the water balloon fight started afresh.


	67. Princess

“Luigi, I gotta know,” Daisy said, “What’s ‘princess’ in Italian?”

“It’s prin-“ the word stopped a third of the way because of the grin on her face.

“Prin, huh? I like it, it’s short and sweet,” Daisy said. She tapped her finger against her chin. “So then, I’m the prin and you’re my… what’s ‘prince’ in Italian?”

“I… I forgot.”


	68. Garden

When the time aligned, Luigi lead her to where they had planted the flowers together, and Daisy ran to her flowers before dropping down roughly on her knees.

“Look at them,” she said, lifting one of the flower’s leaves and then caressing the long petals of another.

“They’re happy to see you,” Luigi said, and he would have said more but she leaned in to smell the flowers. She drew back with an excited expression.

“Can we have a whole garden?” Daisy asked, before she shrunk back her request. “I mean, as much as you can handle, I don’t want to burden you…”

“Let’s have a whole garden,” Luigi said. “We can look for flower books and pick them together.”

He stood up and held out his hand; she took it, and they went off to find the flower books.


	69. Missing

“Okay,” Daisy said, proudly showing off the plate of confections. They resembled cookies, finally something recognizable instead of a blob of oversaturated sweetness. “Try these.”

Luigi took one and chewed on it; the texture of it was pretty brittle but it tasted lightly salty-sweet and didn’t have any missing ingredients.

“Good job, Daisy.”

“Thanks,” she replied and then, “I know I said that I didn’t want any help before, but I made a big mess in the kitchen, so could you…”

He gave her a look which increased the sheepish expression she was making, before nodding.

(He wasn’t going to ask how she managed to get batter on the ceiling.)


	70. Alone

Daisy’s letter arrived at just the right time, when the rain was pouring down and there was a blanket of gloom. Luigi read through it slowly, as if savoring a hot drink.

The beginning and the middle were as they usually were, full of eagerness and questions, something to stave off the present coldness around him.

But towards the end it became more stifled, almost like stalling with an uneasy air.

And then, “You said it’s been lonely lately. I know that feels the worst ever and I don’t want that for you! So.” The words after were swiftly written down, the ink a little smeared and the letters slightly crooked.

“If you live to be a hundred I hope to live a hundred plus a day so you won’t ever be alone.”

And it ended, but the tears began.


	71. Puzzle

Luigi could feel the time slipping away, and kept his head down to concentrate on the puzzle. It was gigantic with many little pieces and he could not figure out where this piece, a plain white color, was supposed to go.

“Time!” Daisy called over the timer, and he deflated but with a sense of relief.

“You’re usually better,” Daisy said as she looked over the incomplete puzzle.

“Usually they’re smaller,” Luigi said. He held up the stray piece. “I have no idea where this goes.”

Daisy pointed to a missing spot in the clouds and he said, quietly, “Oh.”


	72. Spring

In the warm spring air Daisy placed his hands over the box and he could feel something solid jostle around in the box. A sweet smell filled the air.

“I tried to make you chocolate,” Daisy said, “But it kinda… melted together in the end, so I hope…”

Luigi opened the box and saw the mass of chocolate, and broke off a piece, and ate it. He held out the box in an offering when he finished.

“Let’s share it.”


	73. Music

It was a cheaply made guitar, with a paltry four taut strings, and Luigi had lost the pick long ago though he wasn’t sure if it would’ve made a difference.

He tried to make a tune with his thumb nail and a few notes squawked out, and Daisy leaned over with an expression of tentative approval.

“Sounds like my singing,” she said, and she demonstrated the self-deprecating remark with her singing.

It sounded like a slightly better version of the guitar’s cheap twang, and Luigi played on with Daisy’s song and the off-key music, growing in cheerfulness, filled the air.


	74. Paper

The paper cranes accumulated in a colorful flock, and the next paper and next paper folded easily under Luigi’s hands.

“This isn’t working out,” Daisy said as she looked over her paper cicada. It rested on the table with a sad, puffed up look, the paper head torn up and the wings in a heap on the back. She looked over.

“Just cranes?” she asked.

“I can’t make anything else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only make paper cranes. Anything other than that, even with guides, becomes a sad, messy paper scrap.


	75. Decay

The letters Luigi received were kept safe in a box, alongside the gifts Daisy would send to him. The most recent was the pressing of chrysanthemums, though the edges of the petals had some decay after he’d last looked at them.

One morning the mail arrived much earlier than usual, and he took out a new letter from Daisy. It was much, much thinner than usual.

He took it inside and thought it wasn’t the strangest letter he’d received from her; that honor was to the one where she made cut-outs of the individual letters of his name and wrote on them. It took him a while to realize that it was a pun.

Luigi opened up the envelope and found a single, thin sheet of paper. He turned over the thin paper and read:

“Door.”

There was a bunch of frustrated scribbles before there was a door she was presumably satisfied with. Luigi looked up from the paper to the front door before placing the paper aside.

He opened the front door.

“Luigi!”

Her arms were around him in no time before releasing. Daisy stepped back and gave him a chance to figure it out; he couldn’t really do much except grin, a small laugh to accompany it.

He arms lifted up only slightly before she took the hug.


	76. Bittersweet

“You surprised me,” Luigi said, later, when it was night and they were on the couch, Daisy’s head in his lap. “You really surprised me.”

“You should’ve seen your face, it was great,” Daisy replied, and she added, “Though that means I can’t surprise you that way every again.”

“You’ll think of something.”

“Yeah, I will,” she said. She shifted herself so that she could look up at him.

“I wish I didn’t have to leave,” Daisy said, something bittersweet staining her tone.

“Someday you won’t have to,” he said without thinking, thoughts of bells chiming, cheering, and a general warm feeling in his mind.

“I think I need a different kind of dress for that,” Daisy replied. Her grin only got wider when he realized exactly what he said.


	77. Aloof

There were ghosts here but they hadn’t seen any yet; this place smelled musty with dust and mildew, and Luigi stepped over a stone pedestal that fell over in the hallway.

He looked up at the walls and saw a portrait. It was of a woman dressed in fine blue clothes, her expression icily aloof. She stared down and Luigi thought for a split second that her brown hair moved in tandem with the cold breeze.

“What’s up with that?” Daisy asked and he nearly jumped.

He tilted his head at the painting and said, “I don’t like it.”

“Oh, it’s creeping you out, huh?” Daisy looked up to get a closer look before coming to a conclusion. “She’s just sour.”

She made a rude gesture at the portrait, sticking out her tongue at the painted woman.

“See, nothing happened,” she said, and she continued down the hallway.

Luigi still kept an eye on the portrait as he followed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shout-out to Ib because I love that game.


	78. Silence

In the next room it was eerily silent and dark, and they entered cautiously.

“I’ll call out,” Daisy whispered, and Luigi swallowed his fear and shook his head. He quietly stepped in front of her, his free arm a shield and surveyed the room.

“Hey!” he called; after a few agonizing seconds nothing popped out.

“Those ghosts are being cheeky,” Daisy whispered as they made their way through the room.


	79. Call

Luigi looked over his kart, trying to figure out what was making a strange clacking noise when he pushed down on the kart’s gas pedal. He was halfway through wondering if some marble got stuck somewhere in the kart when he heard a loud, garbled call.

He heard a screech and pulled out from under the kart and saw Daisy get off her bike, walking shakily. She fell to the ground with a loud exhale.

“Are you okay?!” he asked as he went to her.

“I’m fine,” she said. “See, I tried to do a trick and when I landed back on my seat I knocked my knee hard against the handlebars.”

He placed a hand against his heart.

“Is your knee okay?”

“I might need some ice…”

He patted her shoulder before running off to find some ice for her.


	80. Dirty

True to her word, the floors shined when they were done and Daisy drew her hand across her forehead.

“Okay, now what?”

“I’m going to clean the dirty laundry,” Luigi said. “You can go relax.”

Daisy looked over when he brought the bundle of dirty clothes to the washer.

“It’s okay, really,” he said as he separated the lighter clothes from the darker clothes. “You can go back to relaxing.”

“I’m just making sure no stray dark socks get stuck with the lighter stuff. No color stains will happen on my watch.”

He was about to reply as he pushed the button but the washer beeped wildly and gurgled out soapy water onto the floor. They jumped back as the puddle grew larger.

“Okay. Yeah, I do need your help.”


	81. Washing

There was a wooden tub set up outside, and Daisy scrubbed the clothes rigorously before taking a minute’s break.

“My hands are stinging.”

“We can switch if you want,” Luigi said as he clipped a shirt to the clothesline.

“Nope, I’m gonna see this one through,” Daisy said. She began washing another shirt.

“You know,” Luigi said, “This happened before, the washer breaking and spitting out water. I was alone and… not feeling good. So when I was cleaning up I thought it’d be better if you were there.”

“And is it?”

“Of course it is.”

Daisy stopped her washing and turned her head away, a dusting of red on her face, before returning to her work with more gusto.


	82. Winter

The fresh snowfall of winter was disrupted by Daisy running across, and then scooping up the snow into her hands.

“Luigi, Luigi, come look,” she called.

He followed her footfalls, and she held up the snow in her hands when he got close.

“I’ll show you how to make the greatest snowball,” she said. She squeezed her hands over the snow, and began her instruction.

“You pack it in super tight,” she said, and she revealed a relatively small snowball. “So that when you throw it and it hits the enemy team it feels like a _rock_.”

“Oh no.”

“All’s fair in a frantic snowball fight,” she said. She turned and threw the snowball further out into the field.

“But I don’t wanna hurt you so regular snowballs are fine.”


	83. Belongs

Daisy had taken to looking around the house, after the laundry and washer were taken care of, and she settled her sights on a wooden doll.

“You remember that doll?” Luigi asked as he looked over her shoulder.

“Yeah. I saw it and gave it to you… But it got broken?”

“It did. Sorry,” Luigi replied. “I was a little careless.”

“But you didn’t throw it out,” Daisy said, some semblance of a question in her tone.

“It belongs there.”


	84. Tender

There was a tender gesture she started doing that would, it seemed always, make his heart race. Lifting up her hand, pressing it against the side of his face and she would meet his gaze with a quiet, impish laugh.

Like many things it was easy as breathing for her.


	85. Sigh

Luigi eyed the opaque water, sticking a hand in it and drawing it out due to the heat. He placed his hands on his legs, and the experimental hand warmed up his bathing suit.

Daisy had already made herself acquainted with the water, jumping in the hot spring as soon as she got her bathing suit on, and then made her regret known when it became apparent the water was too hot for that sort of thing.

“Just get in,” she said, as she had gotten used to it in seemingly five seconds, and she reached out for his hand. She pulled on it twice before breaking off and swimming through the hot spring.

“Okay.” He took a step and fell in, a watery cocoon of intense heat, and he broke up for air. The heat settled and there was a sigh from the cozy feeling.

Daisy swam around, and tried once to go to the bottom and abandoned her plan as soon as she stuck her face underwater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The image of a hot spring brings a nostalgic feeling and it's 100% because of Harvest Moon.


	86. Serenity

There was the serenity of basking in the heat, and Luigi felt like he was wrapped in a watery, heated blanket.

A watery, heated blanket that suddenly made little diamonds go across his vision and he stumbled to the corner and pulled himself out of the hot spring. The little diamonds cleared, and he took in gulps of cold air.

“Overheated?” Daisy asked and he could hear her swim closer. “Wow, there’s steam coming off of you.”

“I’ll be okay.”


	87. Bone

Daisy saw Polterpup hold the other end of the bone out, inviting her to pull, and she gripped the shiny golden food. She pulled as Polterpup struggled, lightly growling and his feet tapping loudly on the floor, and she wiggled the golden bone around to see him follow it with his mouth firmly attached.

“Is this bad for his teeth?” Daisy called out after a few minutes.

“I don’t think he can lose any, so it’s fine,” Luigi called back.


	88. Cards

Daisy counted up the amount of her cards and made a face when she realized they added up to twenty-two.

“You win,” she said.

Luigi gathered up the cards again, and called her name.

“Check it out,” he said as he shuffled the cards, splitting them into two, making them flap against each other and then he lost his grip on the cards and they exploded across the table.

Daisy tentatively clapped her hands before catching his expression and then, “Oh, you didn’t mean to do that.”

“I swear it looks cool,” Luigi said as he collected the cards again.


	89. Cheating

Daisy brought in cards the next time they played, and she talked about them as she jostled them out of the box.

“I used these when I was a kid,” she said, “So I used to play things like-“

The next part was lost when the cards spilled out and it was shown that the backs were marked with notches.

“This is,” Luigi said and he turned over one card with three notches to see that it was a three of hearts. He showed it to her.

“Oh,” Daisy said, “I forgot I did that.”

“Can’t use these,” Luigi said. “So, wait, were you cheating when you played when you were little?”

“Guess so. That’s a really obvious trick, though…”


	90. Meaning

When they had picked out the flowers for the garden it was time to go and get the flowerpots from the flower shop. However, Daisy had become side-tracked by numerous blooms, and Luigi was along for the ride of floral appreciation.

“Look at these,” Daisy said, her hands holding two flowerpots of ambrosia. They were red with white lines arching from the pistil upward to the top part of the petal.

Some sort of familiarity clicked in his mind and Luigi could not figure out what caused it to occur. He instead took the flowerpots from her hands and looked at the ambrosia closely.

“Do you know the meaning of that flower, Luigi?”

“I don’t,” Luigi said, “What is it?”

“Oh, I have no idea, I thought you would know,” Daisy replied.

“As long as you know how to plant them.”


	91. New direction

It was a quest (or as Daisy called it, to give it an extra punch of excitement) to go camping to see the full moon that would loom in the sky that night.

It would take place in an entirely new direction, in a field where there was only the grass and the sky.

“The dinner preparation is the same, though,” Luigi explained as he got the ingredients ready on the table.

“And building the tent,” Daisy said as she hammered in the last nail to hold up the tent.


	92. Now

The carrot was cut swiftly, and the pieces were added to the preparation board, and Luigi looked it over approvingly.

“Daisy, you’re already doing this a lot better now-“

There was a sudden burst of red across the cutting board she was using and Luigi’s heart dropped into his stomach before he realized that it was pulpy and full of tiny seeds.

Daisy regarded the apparently self-combusting tomato with an annoyed, “Ah,” and staring down at the mess.

“I stand by what I said,” Luigi added, as he brushed off the bits of tomato from her arms with a washcloth.


	93. Spice

“I’d say this is a success,” Luigi said as he fished for another slice of carrot from his bowl of vegetable stew.

Daisy lifted up a slice of salted tomato in a toast and he bumped his bowl against the slice.

“I added something to mine,” Daisy said, “A spice, it’ll warm you up.”

Luigi took a spoonful from the bowl she offered and devoured the broth and vegetable; the broth settled over his tongue in a quick, fiery burst. The potato slice didn’t offer reprieve, as it was spicy too.

“I’m sorry, is it too much?” Daisy asked, and he waved to assure her, but then he had to blink away a few tears.

“It’s good,” he said, and his voice was weirdly hoarse.

His dinner gained a slice of bread to chew on to soothe his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the taste of spicy food but it always burns the corners of my mouth...


	94. Full moon

The full moon hung overhead, brighter than the stars around it, and there was nothing more than to gaze upon the moon.

Except it was becoming to be much too quiet, and a song worked its way in Luigi’s mind. He sat up from the ground and Daisy looked at him quizzically.

“When the moon hits your-“

The impromptu musical was interrupted by Daisy’s laughter and then, “Oh, no,” and he looked at her, a matching grin on his face.

“It was just too quiet,” he offered as an explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not unlike the mythological werewolf's urge to howl, I am compelled to sing that song when a full moon appears.


	95. Dawn

Luigi’s eyes opened and he sat up, unaware of where he was. And then something settled and he remembered they were camping. There was a faint light against the tent and he carefully maneuvered outside.

The night sky was fading, slowly, and the early dawn was left in its wake with colorful, bright light. He heard the tent opening rustle and Daisy stumbled out to stand before him.

“I’m sorry,” Luigi whispered, “Did I wake you up?”

Daisy shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She pulled her hand through the tangles and then gave up.

“It’s pretty,” she said, when it was apparent that she rubbed the sleep away, and unconsciously she grabbed his hand.

He smiled at her before looking out at the dawn again.

“Yeah. It is.”


	96. Fight (Miitopia)

The middle part of Neksdor proved to be the hottest, and the place ripest for quarrels.

Luigi was slightly lagging behind and listening to the conversation that entirely too cheerful right now.

As Takeo regaled Pearl with a story about teamwork expertly took down a tough Nose Rock, Steven interjecting with cheers at certain parts of the story, Luigi was thinking. Or rather, stewing.

There’d been a fight with Daisy, a small pinch of irritation that exploded. The first time she refused healing food it was all right. They had enough HP bananas.

But the second, third, and fourth stubborn refusals brought up doubts in his cooking skills. The fifth time she refused resulted in him shouting that if she was too good for the cooking then he wasn’t going to offer it anymore.

That earned an awkward trek back to the inn.

In the days that followed whenever Luigi remembered the outburst he’d try to internally explain away the guilt at seeing her hurt look.

“Not my fault,” he said quietly at the memory, as they neared the inn. When they got inside the other three went to count the loot found on the trek and Luigi headed to the dining room.

He found Alexia there, her hands free of her paw weapons as she ate a bowl of Dynastic soup.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hello.” He settled down in the chair next to her. He rested his face in his hands.

“Hey, look,” she said after a few seconds. He turned to see that she was about to launch some soup at him.

“Don’t.”

“Ha, see,” Alexia said. She gulped down the spoonful of soup. “It’s more fun when we fight.”

“You trip me up.”

“And you feel sorry for monsters. Then they hit you in the face,” she replied. “Since you fought with Daisy it’s super awkward; was super weird to see you get mad at her.”

“I wasn’t mad,” Luigi replied defensively.

“Oh, you totally were. It was _weird_.”

“Well,” Luigi said, “It was weird that she kept refusing the food; made me feel like it wasn’t good enough.”

“She does that with everyone. Rinko’s cooking, all the HP banana offers.” Alexia tapped her spoon against the bowl’s rim. “So, what’s the real reason?”

He stayed quiet and she continued, “’Cause you’ve been going out early with the team that doesn’t have her, the team that returns to the inn when it’s so late you can only go to sleep.”

“Almost,” and she drew out the “A” as she stirred her soup, “Like you’re ashamed about yelling at her.”

Luigi kept his gaze on the table.

“I was worried about her,” he admitted, “And that last battle, we didn’t have any HP bananas left and Daisy was low on health…”

His gaze became lower. “What should I do?”

“Tell her this instead of me-“ Alexia’s hand swatted at the bowl and it toppled over. “Oh, no!”

The soup spilled over the table and he got up to clean up the mess; she protested.

“No, no, I got this.” She handed the empty bowl to him. “While I clean up, can you refill this?”

Luigi took the bowl and headed to the kitchen. He opened the door and saw Daisy bringing out more bowls. She looked up.

“Oh! Hi,” she said. She nearly fumbled with the bowls, before catching hold and putting them on the table. He unconsciously did the same with his own bowl.

“I had to make dinner this time!” Daisy declared. “Just kidding. Rinko did.”

He couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“That made you a little nervous, right? Even Dark Lord Yanda would be scared!”

Her laugh almost sounded genuine.

“Daisy,” he said, “About the fight-“

“Oh… well, everything is fine. Everything…” She couldn’t continue with the lie. “I’m sorry!”

“I’m sorry,” her voice was beginning to hitch, “I was too stubborn. I should’ve accepted the food from the start.”

“No,” he said, “I’m sorry. I was too pushy.”

He stepped closer, carefully.

“And I was worried about you but I yelled at you instead,” he continued. “And I never gave you a chance to talk to me. I’m sorry.”

Daisy rubbed her eyes, breathed in, and ran to hug him. He quickly accepted.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll always give you food when you need it. I’ll make it the best of the best.”

“Everything you make is already the best,” Daisy said, muffled against his shoulder.

Luigi drew away to smile at her. “Ah, that’s a lie. Rinko makes better cheesecake than me.”

“All right, that’s true.”

He laughed as she leaned against him again.

“You smell like Dynastic soup,” she said. “Did you already eat?”

“No, no, Alexia spilled it on the table.”

“Ah, just like a cat,” Daisy replied.

“It was an accident.” He wondered briefly if it really was.

There was chatter in the dining room, and Daisy drew away. “Everyone’s here for dinner. Let’s get the soup ready!”

He nodded and helped pour the soup into the bowls and carry them out.

The awkwardness had dissipated and the dinner was lively as everyone discussed the various faces they rescued, or the weird new monsters they saw.

When Daisy finished her soup she leaned against his shoulder. It was rather difficult to eat the soup when his throat tightened up. So he took a moment to move his arm so she could lean against him more comfortably.

“Is it good?”

“It is,” he replied. Thankfully, his voice sounded normal. “Rinko did a good job.”

“I _did_ help a little,” she said. “I put in some extra spice.”

“Ah. Well, your seasoning is getting better!”

Daisy laughed and pushed herself closer. Everything seemed right, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The backstory for this particular prompt and another is that when I was on my trip I had no Wi-Fi so I spent a lot of time on my daily train rides playing Miitopia. It inspired me for the prompts as well because it’s a fun and indulgent game.
> 
> And a friend cameo appeared! When I first played Miitopia her Mii and Luigi Mii, for some reason, just hated each other. Absolutely hated each other. When the little quarrel noise happened 80% of the time it was their fault. It was like, “Can you two stop for like five seconds?”   
> Overall, it was _hysterical _but not so much in the later parts of the game where you need to have your Miis work together against the tough monsters.__
> 
> __As an addendum, Daisy Mii ended up doing the most shenanigans_ _


	97. Rain

Luigi followed Daisy through the field, the “hat to keep her dry” plan long since abandoned, and he ran his hands over his arms.

“Are you cold?”

She turned back and answered, “I have an idea!”

She began to run. The tall grass bowed in the falling rain and the storm seemed to not deter her from running through. He looked up at the sky and only dark clouds greeted him.

Luigi heard a call and Daisy wasn’t anywhere close to the end of the vast field; it stretched on and on.

He ran to her and caught his breath in cold, slightly painful gulps. “That warms you up.”

“I have another idea,” Daisy said, and she motioned for him to come closer.

Luigi stepped forward and Daisy dropped into a curtsey, and he did a small bow so that they wouldn’t hit their heads together.

The dance was more careful, so as not to slip, but there were still speed in the silent tempo; in lieu of music there was her laughter, as Luigi twirled her in and out of his reach. They held close and stepped forward together, before resuming a usual dance, an unsaid “One, two, one, two,” and in the end she stepped back, still holding his hands.

For a moment Daisy was smiling, a cheerful sight in comparison to the rain dripping through her hair and down her face, and then she pressed her mouth against his. In the next moment there was warmth and when they broke apart he could taste a lingering sweetness.

“What kind of candy did you eat?” Luigi asked and realized too late that was not high on the list of things to say to the person that just spontaneously kissed you.

“Tangerine flavored,” she replied.

She loosened her grip on his hands and let them fall apart.

“Sorry,” Daisy said, “If you didn’t-”

In some alien, swift motion he clasped her hands and tried to say his words.

“That’s not what I meant to say,” Luigi said, his voice all jumbled up, “I _liked_ it.”

He let his head hang forward and rest against his wrists. Daisy’s right hand pressed against his cheek and she lifted his head up. Something tight in his heart released when he saw her face relaxed into that familiar grin.

“I did, too.”

She punctuated each of her words with a kiss to his cheeks and he was never more thankful for the rain.


	98. Spaghetti (Miitopia)

The heat pushed down on Luigi as he tried to keep the groceries, HP bananas and MP candies, safe. It was probably because of this heat that Rinko caught a fever.

“Is that how it works?” He asked a cactus. He thought he heard a griffin so he picked up the pace. He used the ribbon of his chef’s uniform as a makeshift handkerchief to press against his face. Pearl was taking care of their sick friend, which left everyone else to their own devices.

He hoped it was easy for them to make the porridge for Rinko.

The inn was in sight and Luigi grinned widely. He maneuvered to balance the groceries as he opened the front door.

He heard screaming coming from the kitchen. Luigi ran to it and had only one thought as he opened the door.

“Spaghetti everywhere.”

It was splattered on the walls and pots were overturned on the stoves. Red sauce was soaked into the floor, ranging from pulpy to liquid. A plethora of noodles bubbled over one of the pots.

Everyone turned when he entered and he could only muster one question.

“What happened?”

“Welcome back!” Daisy started. She was trying to mop up some of the red sauce.

Her words were punctuated by a stove burner flaring up. Takeo hurried to switch it off.

“Sorry, you know how it is with spaghetti!” Steven called from the sink. His pop star outfit was more red than pink.

“No, I don’t.” Right as he said that a glob of red sauce fell from the ceiling.

“Okay, who did that?” Luigi added.

Yotsuba stopped scrubbing at the walls to raise her hand.

“All right, out! Everybody out! I’m going to cook the porridge.”

-

Luigi cleaned up a stove and washed out a pot to get to work on the porridge. The entire room still smelled like spaghetti even when the porridge began to cook.

He looked at the soles of his shoes. “I wonder if this will ever wash out…”

He spotted the hem of robes and looked to his right. The cleric, Frisk, was standing there. The child’s arms were reaching upward.

“Up?” Luigi asked. “Okay, hold on.”

He put down the wooden spoon and reached down to pick up Frisk. He shifted the child and the spoon around so that he could hold Frisk with one arm and stir the porridge with the other.

Luigi could feel Frisk grip his chef shirt and rest their head against his shoulder, watching the stir of the porridge.

The group had found Frisk wandering the outskirts of Greenhourne, and they were to find Frisk’s mother’s face. Despite this separation, Frisk was stoic and took on the job of the cleric. Even though the job of the cleric came naturally to them, with intonations of healing and safeguarding, Frisk was still a child.

“Do you want to know a secret about your mama?” Luigi asked. There was a tiny nod against his shoulder. “She loves you, very, very, very much.”

He drew the wooden spoon through the porridge. “But I think you already knew that.”

He heard a knock on the kitchen door and turned around to see Daisy enter the kitchen. She tilted her head.

“Am I allowed in here?” she asked cheekily.

“Were you the one that put four batches of spaghetti in one pot and cooked it on the highest possible setting?”

“N-noooo… yes. I’m sorry.”

Luigi put on what he hoped was a stern face before he smiled. “Well, it’s okay. I forgive you.”

He swiped the spoon through the porridge before asking, “Why spaghetti?”

“We thought she’d like something more savory,” she explained. “Then we thought we could knock out dinner too, and… here we are.”

Luigi put down Frisk for a moment to scoop the porridge into a bowl.

“Oh, I’ll take that!” Daisy said. She bounded off for the upstairs rooms as Luigi picked Frisk back up.

“She is very energetic,” he said fondly to Frisk. He beckoned for the child to lean in closer.

“And a secret; she is very beautiful.”

Frisk made a sour face and crossed their arms as if to say, “Don’t say such careless things.”

“It’s true! But it’s not really a secret,” he said. “She just doesn’t know that I said that.”

“Know that you said what?” Daisy asked as she slipped into the kitchen.

“P-Pearl doesn’t know that I said devil protein is delicious. You know she hates it.”

“She is pretty picky,” Daisy replied.

She grinned and patted his back. “C’mon, we’re going on an adventure before dinner!”

“This still needs to be cleaned up.”

“Oh. Right, right, I think I got so used to the smell it all smells normal…”

She hummed as Frisk reached out to her and she took the child from his arms.

“Well, I wanna talk with you more, anyway, so I’m happy!” Daisy declared.

She held Frisk closer and tickled their stomach. Their face scrunched up, a smile on their face and a silent laugh shaking their shoulders.

“C’mon, let’s go gather the others,” she said as she exited the kitchen.

Luigi smiled as he carried the pot to the sink. He decided then that he didn’t mind this spaghetti misadventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miitopia is wonderfully silly and indulgent.


	99. Mist

Luigi awoke to see the darkness of the room and he reached out, finding an empty spot in the bed. Information groggily went through his head, “Daisy must’ve had a restless sleep,” and he rubbed his eyes to make them focus. He breathed in the cool air and got out of bed. Warmth clung to his pajamas as he walked.

He found her where he expected; on the porch, looking out at the early morning. She was sitting on the top step, watching the mist go along the grass.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked as he sat down beside her.

Daisy shook her head.

“What were you dreaming about?”

She shivered, so he drew her closer. She worked out her words after a few moments.

“Violins and words.”

“Violins too loud?” he asked.

“Kinda, like, la, la, laa, lah, laah…”

Daisy moved her hands in tune.

“And the words?”

“Something about tidal waves and silver linings.”

“What was it like?”

“Haunting. Kinda sad, even,” Daisy said. “Freaked me out when I woke up. Thought I got swept away by a silver tidal wave.”

She rested easily into his shoulder. “But it feels better to talk about it. That you’re here.”

They stayed like that for a while; he could feel her beginning to slip forward from drowsiness, so Luigi helped her go back into bed. When he returned to bed he moved Daisy into his arms, just in case the familiarity would keep away too loud violins and words that sang about silver linings and tidal waves.

There was a small smile on her face when he drew her close, and his expression matched hers as he drifted off to sleep.


	100. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this.


End file.
